Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 11:54:00 -0500 (EST)
From: Rune Therain
Subject: Harbingers: part 13
Greetings. Now and again I have the time to sit down and just write. I
lucked out, this was one of those times. I've got lots of time to think
about what I want to have happen, but it takes a while for me to get it on
to paper. But I've got this part down, which is definitely a good thing.
Anyway, I'm babbling here so I'm going to just cut to the usual.
Thanks to everyone and anyone that's e-mailed me. I love getting them.
They give me something to do between classes. Besides sleeping that is.
You'd be surprised how many people you see sleeping around the college at
any given moment. I've actually seen people asleep on the radiators.
(didn't look very comfortable, but it had to have been nice and warm). So
unless you want me sleeping on a radiator, please e- mail me. (There,
begging is done) Special thanks to Kenitra, Shade, Aeoros, Hamado, Dax,
Matt and Phoenix. You can reach me at either Mist_dark@yahoo.ca or
Mist_Dark@hotmail.com
If you're too young, or it's illegal in your area to read this, please
leave. If homosexual themes offend you, leave as well. This story in no
way is supposed to reflect the sexuality of any of the members of Nsync.
If they're gay, it's their business. Same goes if they're straight. Parts
of this story are based off the RPG Rifts. All trademarks belong to Kevin
Siembieda and Palladium books.
Enjoy. Until next time,
Rune
PART THIRTEEN
Each of the gateways had been covered with a reflective film, so it
was impossible to see what lay beyond each. Once Lance had stepped through
the gateway he'd chosen, he could see a long hallway. It was carved of the
same deep bluish stone that the gateway had been. It was wide enough for
two of him to walk abreast and could easily accommodate someone three times
his height. There was a light source, but he couldn't see where it was
coming from. It was like the air itself was illuminated.
With one final glance at the gateway behind him, the blonde strode
forward. The passageway was long and curved slightly so that you couldn't
see the exit from the gateway. He guessed that it took him almost twenty
minutes of walking to reach the end. When he stepped out of the passageway
his breathe was taken away by the sight before him.
The ground was a dark blue. It took him a moment to realize that
the ground was actually composed of water. Though it seemed reasonably
solid. The sky was a lighter shade of blue and was water like the ground.
Even the air around him was tinged the blue that water gets when there's
just enough light to hide the fact its actually colourless. Tentatively he
took a step forward. The watery-ground held him. Sighing in relief he
stepped completely out of the passageway and into the realm.
"Just a guess," he said to himself. "But I'm guessing this is the
water realm." He looked around for a moment while he tried to decide which
way to go. He felt a tingling sensation when he faced the left. "That's
odd," he muttered. He kept turning and the sensation faded away. It
returned when he was facing that way again. "Guess we go this way."
Lance headed off in the direction that sensation was. The further
he traveled the more intense the sensation grew. He noticed very little in
the realm physically. But he knew there were creatures out there. He
didn't know how he knew, but he just knew. He could almost feel them.
From what he'd read on the subject from Selvar's library, he guessed they
were elementals.
"They can't hurt you," Lance comforted himself. "They're not being
directed by anyone."
Of course none of the readings he'd done had said anything about what an
elemental could do in its natural habitat. He passed the time by trying to
recall everything that he knew about elementals. They were creatures of
varying intelligence that were summoned from one dimension to another.
They were organized by the type of body the inhabited in the new world.
Water elementals made bodies out of ice and water, whereas an earth
elemental would use wood, stone, mud or clay. They had a few magical
abilities, and would do anything their summoners told them to do. Though
they had to be dealt with carefully. They never lied and when they said
they were going to kill you, they were going to do just that. He
remembered reading about one wizard that had abused a fire elemental that
he had summoned. The wizard refused to release the creature and eventually
it had destroyed the entire castle that it had been summoned to protect.
The wizard sent it back to its native dimension, but not until it had done
a great deal of damage to the surrounding countryside. The wizard had been
mortally wounded in the process of sending it back.
The tingling sensation had grown stronger. It felt like his entire body
had fallen asleep and was just walking up. He wasn't particularly fond of
the feeling, but it didn't bother him a lot.
After almost two hours of walking he saw something. The only thing that
gave any indication that he had been moving at all. It was just a ripple
in the air/water ahead of him. As he got closer he could see that the
ripple was humanoid. At first he thought it was one of the elementals
taken a recognizable form, but he quickly dismissed the notion.
"Hurry Lance," it whispered. "We can't hold our realms for much longer."
A look of confusion crossed Lance's face. A look of realization
followed it. "So that's what I was feeling."
"Hurry," the ripple whispered again. "Please hurry."
"I think I'm beginning to understand what you mean Atropos." He
closed his eyes and willed himself to return to the Hall.
"So how have you been keeping up with your lessons Joseph?" Evelyn
asked as she sipped her tea. The woman sat in a chair across from Joey.
"Which ones?" He asked from his sit on the couch. "I've been
working more with telekinetics and trying really hard with pyrokinetics,
but I haven't been able to do much with healing."
Evelyn nodded. "That would make sense. Not all of us are strong
in certain areas."
"What do you mean?"
"There are three basic types of powers, loosely grouped of course.
There are healing powers, physical powers and sensitive powers. Healing
speaks for itself. Physical powers are ones like telekinetics and
sensitive powers are telepathy and the like. I'm strongest in the healing
powers, whereas you are strongest in the physical. You can train yourself
in your weak areas, but you will never match me in healing ability. Nor I
you in the physical."
"But why can you still life more with your mind then I can?" Joey
asked. "If I'm the stronger physical. Or is that a training aspect."
"Yes and no. I'm a very strong telekinetic Joseph. I can lift a
great deal, but when you reach your full potential you'll be able to lift
far more. Being grouped into one of the categories is rarely completely
accurate. It just means most of my strongest powers are related to
healing. I would rank healer, sensitive and then physical. You would rank
physical, sensitive, and then healer. Does that make sense?"
Joey nodded. "I think so. It just means I won't be able to
perform the medical miracles that you do."
A smile graced Evelyn's lips. "Something like that." She took
another sip of her tea before setting the cup on the table. "Don't sell
yourself short child. You will be able to a great deal, but no one can do
everything."
"I know that," he said. "It'd be nice though. To be strong in all
of the areas. Though to be honest, I'm just as happy with my own array.
I've got enough to learn as it is."
"Very true," Evelyn laughed. "Let's see what you can do. You've
had some time to experiment on your own."
Joey grinned. "You mean I get to show off now?"
"Yes," Evelyn smiled.
"I've been waiting a long time to do this."
Joey pulled his legs up onto the couch so that he could sit
cross-legged. He rose into the air until he was hovering a few feet above
the floor. He closed his eyes and slowly turned to face the water basin on
a table next to the wall. The water rippled and then began to boil. As
the sounds of boiling water were still filling the room, it heaved upward.
The boiling water swirled in a mini-waterspout.
He turned away from the basin without letting the waterspout go.
The brunette nodded at a candelabra. The wicks of each of the ten candles
smoked briefly before lighting themselves. Pyrokinetics wasn't his
specialty, but he could do something in the area. With another nod the
candelabra's twin emptied itself of its candles. He waved his hand at the
lit candles. One by one they disappeared from one candelabra and
reappeared in the other. The process repeated itself as he turned his
attention to other objects in the room.
"Okay Joseph," Evelyn said. "You can do one more thing and then
you have to stop."
Joey sighed and then grinned wickedly. The waterspout dropped back
into the basin as the candles flickered out and stopped their teleporting
act. Evelyn's cup rattled on its saucer. The cup and saucer rose lightly
into the air. They were followed by other small objects around the room.
Books, vases, pens, paper, and so on. All of them floated off their
surfaces and rose into the air. The couch, table and the chair Evelyn was
sitting quickly joined the other objects in the air. As did the woman
herself. Soon, anything that wasn't attached to the floor or walls was
floating aimlessly.
"Very good," Evelyn said. "Now put everything back. And don't
break anything."
"You're absolutely no fun," Joey said as he carefully put
everything back in its proper place. "Did anyone ever tell you that?"
"Several people," she told him. "But mother's aren't supposed to
be fun. That's why they're mothers." She walked over to a cabinet one
Joey had replaced it. After rummaging through it for a few moments she
pulled out several bottles and pouches of herbs. "Now I believe it's time
to tend to Calypso and Josh."
"You have to enjoy mixing those vile concoctions," Joey accused.
"That's the only answer I can think of. No one in their right mind would
drink those unless you were standing over them at the time."
"Which is exactly why I stand right there and watch them drink it."
She checked to make sure she had everything she wanted. "They won't need
the herbs much longer. Their tissues have almost recovered from the rapid
regeneration that we performed. Though I wish I could say what the long
term psychological effects would be. Short of erasing their memories, I
can't be sure we've gotten rid of that creature's influence over them."
"Would that work?" Joey asked. "Wiping their memories I mean."
"I'm not sure," she admitted. "It might, but I don't like the idea
of doing it. It isn't proper to eliminate a memory just because you don't
like it. But I'll do it if I have to." She opened the door and stepped
out into the hallway. "Practice while I'm gone. We'll work with you
telepathy when I get back."
The trip to the northern coast of Africa was covered far more
quickly then Chris or Mala had expected. As she said Maria and Brian
accompanied them. They ran hard every night and spent most of the day
sleeping. At first he was sure that the horse would be wary of the
vampire, but they seemed to accept her. When Mala suggested that they
should take turns on the horses, both Maria and Brian laughed.
"They won't let me ride them anyway," the vampire had told her.
"And I don't need to ride a horse."
"I'll be able to keep up," Brian told her confidently.
Mala had tried to argue, but stopped when Maria shapeshifted into a
wolf. The wolf lolled her tongue at the thief before lopping off to the
north. Brian laughed. He slung his bow over his shoulder and ran after
the wolf. In less then a minute he'd caught up the wolf and kept pace with
it. Chris and Mala shrugged and nudged their horses to follow. The
animals were reluctant to move as quickly as they were at night, but did so
anyway. They'd been trained well.
The second concern Chris had for the horses came after he realized
the pace that Maria intended to set for them. He didn't know a lot about
horses, but he knew that they wouldn't be able to keep up the constant
galloping for long. He pointed this out to Maria when she began to slow
the pace after he'd gotten her attention.
The wolf slowed her stride to a walk and then stopped all together.
Brian followed suit so suddenly that Chris almost ran him over. The blonde
dodged out of the way at the last moment. Once the horses had been cooled
down Maria shifted back into human form.
"They're probably not going to like this at first," she said. "But
it'll let them run all the way there." She looked each horse in the eyes.
Her own eyes glowed crimson for a moment and the horse quieted under her
gaze. Once they were under she walked to the side of Chris' horse and
asked him to dismount. When he had she bared her fangs and sunk them into
the horse's neck. The animal flinched when her teeth broke its skin, but
that was it. She drank for a moment before straightening. She repeated
the process with Mala's horse.
"What did you just do?" Mala asked.
"I've formed a bond with them," Maria told her. "It's not anywhere
as complex as the one I have with Brian, but it'll lend them some of my
endurance. If it weren't for the sun we could run the entire way to the
coast and never have to stop."
"Will they be alright?" Chris asked. He wiped the blood off his
horse's neck. The animal barely acknowledged his touch.
"They'll be skittish at first," Brian told him. "We'll have to
walk them for a little while, until they get used to their increased
senses. After that you can ride them again."
"Increased senses?" Mala said.
"Bonding with a vampire increases your senses to be more like the
vampire's," Brian told her. "The horses will hear and see better then they
did before. But the sense of touch is increased dramatically. They
wouldn't be able to stand you on their backs at first, once they adjust
they'll be fine."
"Did you have to adjust to that too?" Chris asked.
"Yes," Brian laughed. "But I was busy trying to deal with other things.
Like how not to shoot my master with my bolts of light. That took a while.
By the time I'd mastered that I was used to my strengthened senses."
"They won't do that, will they?" Chris asked worriedly. "Shooting light I
mean."
"Only human servants are granted that ability," Maria assured him. "Your
horses will be like any other horse, only they'll be able to see and hear
more." She looked at the sky. "We should get moving. We've got some time
before we have to start looking for a place to rest."
They walked their horses for a few hours and then found a place that would
shelter Maria from the sun. They found shelter for themselves and the
horses for the day. When night fell again they continued their journey.
They didn't come across any other problems. No vampires attacked them and
nature seemed to be at peace for the time being. It took them less then a
week to reach the coast. They saw the odd person, but didn't stop for
them. And in most cases the people didn't bother them. Not many people
were willing to ask why two people were racing, at full gallop across the
land. Especially if they had a wolf and a man on foot keeping pace with
them.
When they reached the coast they found a port city and secured passage to
England. It took a great deal of persuasion to sail at all and then even
more to allow them to board after dark had fallen. Maria promised that she
would put herself into a stasis state that would eliminate her feeding
habits until they arrived in England. Brian stayed with her the entire
time. Chris and Mala were left to their own devices for most of the trip.
They spent a great deal of time in the cabin they shared.
"FOOL!" The dark ball raged. "I have given you a simple task
Sayer. A very simple task and you are beginning to lose control of it
already. Why?"
The priest bowed his head before the ball. "I am sorry Master.
The creatures that you have asked me to ally are beginning to refuse my
orders. They will not listen to the words that you have given me. I
cannot continue to control them."
"That is why they will be useful Sayer. They needn't trust you or
each other, but they will finish their tasks." The ball was silent for
several minutes. Sayer didn't move from his kneeling position in front of
the throne. "Perhaps this could be used as well. Have you destroyed the
resistance of the main cities?"
"Yes Master. The Gemini and the Wraith have razed several of the
cities and a number of the smaller ones as well. Neva has also been taking
out her frustration on them. The only city that has not been destroyed is
under Yesena's control. The people fears her power. They will be no
trouble."
"Good," the ball mused. "The Guardians are unable to prevent me
from working my will in this world. They can barely hold onto their own
realms, let along mount a counter attack to my plans. The Seeker is a
problem though. If he finds the new Guardian we will be unable to
continue."
"We could find him again Master," Sayer offered.
"I doubt it. The Fates have woven him into his destiny already.
However, they can do little to stop our other actions." The ball was
silent again. "No, the Seeker is beyond our grasp. But we may be able to
harm him indirectly."
"Master?"
"One of his friends was taken away by Neva when she first captured
the Seeker. That man is just now returning to England. If we strike
properly we will be able to deal a blow to the Seeker. Perhaps enough to
distract him from his quest long enough for reality to unravel."
"You wish me to capture this man?"
"I am aware of your incompetence at kidnapping Sayer," the ball
sneered. "I am going to give you a task that is much simpler. I want you
to kill this man."
"Yes Master," Sayer said. "I will not fail you."
"See that you don't."
TBC
How was that? Likes? Dislikes? Opinions on the democratic parties of
Canada? Let me know what you think.
Rune